Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)
Gruta do Caldeirão features a c. 6 m-thick archaeological stratification capped by Holocene layers ABC-D and Ea, which overlie layer Eb, a deposit of Magdalenian age that underwent significant disturbance, intrusion, and component mixing caused by funerary use of the cave during the Early Neolithic....
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:470012 2023-12-03T10:23:29+01:00 Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal) Zilhão, João Angelucci, Diego E. Arnold, Lee J. d'Errico, Francesco Dayet, Laure Demuro, Martina Deschamps, Marianne Fewlass, Helen Gomes, Luís Linscott, Beth Matias, Henrique Pike, Alistair W.G. Steier, Peter Talamo, Sahra Wild, Eva M. 2021-10-27 text https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/470012/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/470012/1/journal.pone.0259089.pdf en English eng https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/470012/1/journal.pone.0259089.pdf Zilhão, João, Angelucci, Diego E., Arnold, Lee J., d'Errico, Francesco, Dayet, Laure, Demuro, Martina, Deschamps, Marianne, Fewlass, Helen, Gomes, Luís, Linscott, Beth, Matias, Henrique, Pike, Alistair W.G., Steier, Peter, Talamo, Sahra and Wild, Eva M. (2021) Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal). PLoS ONE, 16, [e0259089]. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0259089 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259089>). cc_by_4 Article PeerReviewed 2021 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259089 2023-11-03T00:05:47Z Gruta do Caldeirão features a c. 6 m-thick archaeological stratification capped by Holocene layers ABC-D and Ea, which overlie layer Eb, a deposit of Magdalenian age that underwent significant disturbance, intrusion, and component mixing caused by funerary use of the cave during the Early Neolithic. Here, we provide an updated overview of the stratigraphy and archaeological content of the underlying Pleistocene succession, whose chronology we refine using radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating. We find a high degree of stratigraphic integrity. Dating anomalies exist in association with the succession's two major discontinuities: Between layer Eb and Upper Solutrean layer Fa, and between Early Upper Palaeolithic layer K and Middle Palaeolithic layer L. Mostly, the anomalies consist of older-than-expected radiocarbon ages and can be explained by bioturbation and palimpsest-forming sedimentation hiatuses. Combined with palaeoenvironmental inferences derived from magnetic susceptibility analyses, the dating shows that sedimentation rates varied in tandem with the oscillations in global climate revealed by the Greenland oxygen isotope record. A steep increase in sedimentation rate is observed through the Last Glacial Maximum, resulting in a c. 1.5 m-thick accumulation containing conspicuous remains of occupation by people of the Solutrean technocomplex, whose traditional subdivision is corroborated: The index fossils appear in the expected stratigraphic order; the diagnostics of the Protosolutrean and the Lower Solutrean predate 24,000 years ago; and the constraints on the Upper Solutrean place it after Greenland Interstadial 2.2. (23,220-23,340 years ago). Human usage of the site during the Early Upper and the Middle Palaeolithic is episodic and low-intensity: Stone tools are few, and the faunal remains relate to carnivore activity. The Middle Palaeolithic is found to persist beyond 39,000 years ago, at least three millennia longer than in the Franco-Cantabrian region. This conclusion ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Greenland PLOS ONE 16 10 e0259089 |
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University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
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ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
Gruta do Caldeirão features a c. 6 m-thick archaeological stratification capped by Holocene layers ABC-D and Ea, which overlie layer Eb, a deposit of Magdalenian age that underwent significant disturbance, intrusion, and component mixing caused by funerary use of the cave during the Early Neolithic. Here, we provide an updated overview of the stratigraphy and archaeological content of the underlying Pleistocene succession, whose chronology we refine using radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating. We find a high degree of stratigraphic integrity. Dating anomalies exist in association with the succession's two major discontinuities: Between layer Eb and Upper Solutrean layer Fa, and between Early Upper Palaeolithic layer K and Middle Palaeolithic layer L. Mostly, the anomalies consist of older-than-expected radiocarbon ages and can be explained by bioturbation and palimpsest-forming sedimentation hiatuses. Combined with palaeoenvironmental inferences derived from magnetic susceptibility analyses, the dating shows that sedimentation rates varied in tandem with the oscillations in global climate revealed by the Greenland oxygen isotope record. A steep increase in sedimentation rate is observed through the Last Glacial Maximum, resulting in a c. 1.5 m-thick accumulation containing conspicuous remains of occupation by people of the Solutrean technocomplex, whose traditional subdivision is corroborated: The index fossils appear in the expected stratigraphic order; the diagnostics of the Protosolutrean and the Lower Solutrean predate 24,000 years ago; and the constraints on the Upper Solutrean place it after Greenland Interstadial 2.2. (23,220-23,340 years ago). Human usage of the site during the Early Upper and the Middle Palaeolithic is episodic and low-intensity: Stone tools are few, and the faunal remains relate to carnivore activity. The Middle Palaeolithic is found to persist beyond 39,000 years ago, at least three millennia longer than in the Franco-Cantabrian region. This conclusion ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zilhão, João Angelucci, Diego E. Arnold, Lee J. d'Errico, Francesco Dayet, Laure Demuro, Martina Deschamps, Marianne Fewlass, Helen Gomes, Luís Linscott, Beth Matias, Henrique Pike, Alistair W.G. Steier, Peter Talamo, Sahra Wild, Eva M. |
spellingShingle |
Zilhão, João Angelucci, Diego E. Arnold, Lee J. d'Errico, Francesco Dayet, Laure Demuro, Martina Deschamps, Marianne Fewlass, Helen Gomes, Luís Linscott, Beth Matias, Henrique Pike, Alistair W.G. Steier, Peter Talamo, Sahra Wild, Eva M. Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal) |
author_facet |
Zilhão, João Angelucci, Diego E. Arnold, Lee J. d'Errico, Francesco Dayet, Laure Demuro, Martina Deschamps, Marianne Fewlass, Helen Gomes, Luís Linscott, Beth Matias, Henrique Pike, Alistair W.G. Steier, Peter Talamo, Sahra Wild, Eva M. |
author_sort |
Zilhão, João |
title |
Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal) |
title_short |
Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal) |
title_full |
Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal) |
title_fullStr |
Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal) |
title_sort |
revisiting the middle and upper palaeolithic archaeology of gruta do caldeirão (tomar, portugal) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/470012/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/470012/1/journal.pone.0259089.pdf |
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Greenland |
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Greenland |
genre |
Greenland |
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Greenland |
op_relation |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/470012/1/journal.pone.0259089.pdf Zilhão, João, Angelucci, Diego E., Arnold, Lee J., d'Errico, Francesco, Dayet, Laure, Demuro, Martina, Deschamps, Marianne, Fewlass, Helen, Gomes, Luís, Linscott, Beth, Matias, Henrique, Pike, Alistair W.G., Steier, Peter, Talamo, Sahra and Wild, Eva M. (2021) Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal). PLoS ONE, 16, [e0259089]. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0259089 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259089>). |
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259089 |
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